Wi-Fi™ telecommunications technology allows electronic devices to exchange data wirelessly (using radio waves) over computer networks, including high-speed Internet connections. Wi-Fi compliant typically refers to equipment certified to communicate over wireless local area networks (WLAN) based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' (IEEE) 802.11 standards. A wireless user device, such as a station (STA), can connect to a network resource such as the Internet via a wireless network access point (AP) using a Wi-Fi radio. Examples of stations include smartphones, personal computers (laptops and desktops), video-game consoles, smartphones, computer tablets, and digital audio players. Such an AP (also referred to as hotspot) generally has a range of about 20 meters indoors and a greater range outdoors.
In Wi-Fi, multiple stations may communicate with a single AP at different times, e.g., one station at a time. The AP sends data to each station via a downlink and receives data from the station via an uplink. Enabling multiple stations to communicate with an AP (or multiple APs) at the same time can improve communications in Wi-Fi, such as to boost the throughput of the uplink connection.